Improved compound of hard rubber and fibrous material



await e r It. 0. LOW REY, O F SALEM, NEVV -YORK Letters Patent No. 94,832, dated September 14, 1869.

IMPROVED COMPOUND OI HARD RUBBER AND FIBROUS MATERIAL.

The Schedule referred to iii these Letters Patent and making part of the same.

To all whom it may concern.- Be it known that I, LOWREY, of Salem, in the county of Washington, and ,State of New York, have invented ceitain'ne'w, and useful Improvements in Compounds of Fibrous Materials and Hard Rubber; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description thereof.

2 To enable others skilled in the art to construct and use my invention, I willprocecd to describe it.

My invention relates tocomposition of matter, and consists inmixing, compounding, uniting, or in'corpo-r rating the fibresof any fibrous material with a hard-i rubber compound, 'so-as to form a soft, pulpy mass, and their pressing or moulding this mass into any form orforms, shape or shapes that maybe desired, and vulcanizing them, that is, subjecting them to the vulcanizingpmcesjs. i 1

In making'my compound, I take a fibrous material ,of any suitable-kind, but preferably such as is used in i the manufacture of paper, and reduce it, by any of the usual processes, to a pnlpy, dock, or similar state.

The degree of fineness to which the fibre is reduced depends upon the character of the articles for which the compound is designed: When the fibre has been thusreduced, I dry it. If reduced in any other manner, it may not be necessary to dry it, my object being to have the fibre in a fine and dry condition..

When in this condition L-thoroughly mix, compound, and incorporate it'with ha-rd rubber compound, suitably preparcd'for the purpose. After this mixture has beenthus made,"I. press or mould the mass into any desirable form or forms, shape or shapes, andthen subjectthem to the vuleanizing-process. In this way I am able to pr'odnce'au endless variety of useful and ornamental articles.

When sawdust or similar fibres of any kind isused, it is evident that the product will, 'after vulcanization, be a hard, compact mass, possessing, for many purposes, the useful qualities of toughness anddurability, and the same is true when other fibres are used. I

introduced intothe same mass, for the purpose of giving a variegated appearance to thearticles made from it.

It is also obvious that any gums that can be vulcanized so as to produce a hard material, similar-to hard rubber, may be used with like effect.

In this way I am able to produce a new compound, and out of this compound a great variety of useful and ornamental articles.

I am aware that fibrous materials and soft rubber have been combined and submitted to the process of vulcanization, but, as is well known, the product is more or less elastic, and is not susceptible of being polished. I am also aware that hard rubber is now protected by Letters Patent, and I do not claim'a do I claim, in any sense, hard rubber alone. Iaving thus described my invention,

What I claim, is

any fibrous material with hard-rubber compound, and then submitting the mixture to the process of vulcanization, in the manner substantially as herein described, and for the'pu-rposes set forth.

2. The products resulting from the process herein described, in whatever form or shape they may be produced,as new articles of manufacture.

R, O. LOWREY.

' It is obvious that in the process of compounding Witnesses:

the fibre with the rubber compound, any suitable pig- P. T. DODGE, ment or pigments may be introduced, for the purpose H. B. MUNN.

of giving the articles any desired color.

It is obvious that fibres of different colors may be compound of fibrous materials and soft rubber; neither 1 .1. Mixing, uniting, or incorporating the fibres of 

